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6/12/2014 1:29PM

Iraqi Insurgents Facing Kurdish Troops in North

Kurdish peshmerga military forces took control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk on Thursday -- to resist Sunni militants -- as the country edges closer to a full-blown sectarian conflict. WSJ's Jason Bellini explains.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

the latest sign of sectarian chaos sweeping Iraq ... Kurdish fighters were they stepped in to defend key points in the oil rich city of Kirkuk ... including government installations after Iraqi military forces fled their posts ... Iraqi official tells Wall Street Journal that parts of Kirkuk province are still under the control fighters from the al Qaeda linked group Isis ... with my Mr. Nortel monkey's government proving incapable containing the whitening strife ... Iraq's ethnic and religious groups are starting to take the country security ... into their own hands ... you a general of the quarter security forces known as push Murdoch says the deployed to help defend the majority ethnic current population there ... after the Iraqi army left their positions we came here to take care of these places he says ... the decision by Kurdish fighters to take a military positions ... was the latest sign of rising and are key in the country ...